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"We were in Arequipa, and it just kind of fit," he says. "Mountain biking, canyoning, high desert, you know?"
Unlike Bend, which is home to Deschutes, 10 Barrel and a host of smaller breweries, Arequipa was a desert for craft beer.
"I drink a lot of beer," Workman says.
So he set about learning to make it, which meant coming home to apprentice in Portland. Workman's new Grateful Brewing is scheduled to open next year in Peru. His first publicly available beer, Perufeccion, a collaboration with Portland's new nonprofit brewery, Ex Novo, will be on tap at the Portland Pro/Am beer festival on Saturday, Oct. 11. The beer uses 40 pounds of Peruvian lúcuma fruit—one of two beers at the festival with unusual Peruvian ingredients (see sidebar).
From the big wood table at Ex Novo in North Portland, Workman seems like the kind of rugged guy whose company Ernest Hemingway would've enjoyed. He's bearded and muscular, with wild blue eyes. It's been 15 years since he lived full-time in Portland, but he's passionate about the beer here.
"I drank a lot of beer from here, stealing from my dad, when I was 18, 19," he says. "That was when the first wave of craft [brewing] was starting here—MacTarnahan's, Pyramid, Rogue, Red Hook."
Peruvian beer, mainly comprised of light lagers from manufacturer Backus—think Peruvian Bud—wasn't up to snuff. So he took it upon himself to deliver the beer he loves to the city that had charmed him. Workman began networking with Peruvian brewers—there are a few microbreweries in Lima, Cusco and scattered throughout the country—and founded a brewers' association with the goal of starting a Northwest-style brewpub.
But there was a problem: Workman had never brewed before. In order to learn from the brewers who had inspired him and capture some of that Northwest character, Workman returned to Portland in April. He joined the Oregon Brew Crew club and started trading electrical work—Workman is a trained electrician—in exchange for experience with Portland's two newest breweries, Baerlic and Ex Novo.
Workman returned to Ex Novo to brew his beer for the Pro/Am, after hitting it off with head brewer Ian Greene. They're working on a brown ale made with lúcuma. Workman takes me back into the brewery and produces a pan of the stuff. It's the color and consistency of pumpkin-pie filling. He tells me to stick a finger in. It tastes just like pie filling, too, sweet and rich.
Though Workman may be a novice brewer, getting the lúcuma was a testament to his business savvy. "I thought we wanted a little bit," he says. "I was like, 'How much do we need?' And Ian said, '40 pounds.' I said, 'Where the fuck am I going to find 40 pounds?' I called back to Miami to imports. They gave the number of a guy in San Francisco, and he had one box of 40 left. So I called up and ordered it."
Later this month, Workman and his wife will return to Peru to set up Grateful Brewing. Next year, they'll be joined by another Oregonian, Warren Holmes, who will serve as their chief brewer. In the meantime, they'll find a location in Arequipa and set up the brewery system, which they hope to pay for through an Indiegogo campaign. He says community outreach will also be an important part of Grateful's mission. Workman plans to help fund local arts, shelters for street animals, and gay rights initiatives.
"We want to respectfully fold in this Northwest ethos," he says. âNorthwest-Peruvian fusion is really the idea that weâre going for.â
GO: WW's Beer Pro/Am festival is at Zarr Studios, 1535 SE 9th Ave., on Saturday, Oct. 11. 1-6 pm. $25 general admission, $40 VIP. Tickets here.
WWeek 2015